IN the never-ending quest to keep road accident figures down, a 20mph limit outside schools seems glaringly obvious as a way forward.

Engineers will tell you that the energy of a collision goes up with the square of the speed of the vehicle. In simple terms, it means that the 10 mile-an-hour difference between a 30mph collision and one at 20mph will reduce the energy by more than half.

It may seem cold and clinical to be working out the impact damage a car can do to a child’s body at different speeds, but when it comes up with figures like these, the effort will have been worthwhile.

So parents and teachers alike will surely support plans to cut speed limits outside Wirral schools to 20mph at times when children are likely to be arriving or leaving to go home.

It’s a reality of life that young children have to learn road sense, preferably in a classroom or with their parents rather than the hard way by being hit by a car. But at least if they do get hit at a lower speed, they will probably live to tell the tale.

There will be details that will need ironing out if Wirral does decide to cut limits next week.

We would suggest that in most cases the 20mph limit is restricted to times when children are in the area. Although some road safety campaigners would be willing to introduce a blanket 20mph limit, for most motorists it would be a restriction too far, and would be likely to ignored.

A rule ignored is close to being a rule held in contempt, and that will never do.

But used properly, and appropriately enforced so that the message gets across, we believe that reduced speed limits outside school at certain times of the day is very definitely the way forward.